Stop and Go
by Lucillia
Summary: The Doctor is at a carnival. He's on a date, having fun with companions after a harrowing adventure, on a date, on an outing with his granddaughter, and on a date. Things are sure to be interesting.
1. Chapter 1

The ride operator smiled at the number of couples that were soon to be boarding the Ferris Wheel. He frowned briefly at the old man who was standing next to a very young girl until the girl called the old man "grandfather" and started eagerly chattering away into the old man's ear apparently on a family outing rather than a romantic rendezvous. That was alright then. He opened the gate and started getting the couples settled into their seats, snickering at the antics of what looked to be a pair of comedians on break, one a Scotsman and the other a hobo by his dress. Come to think of it, the dress of a number of the passengers was unusual, and in some cases almost indecent, but old people were often set in their ways, and young people tended to go out of their way to be outrageous these days.

The Ferris wheel started moving in earnest now that everyone had boarded the ride. Eventually it reached about the right height for what he was planning to appear to be accidental to anyone who wasn't his date. The Doctor surreptitiously pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at the controls for the Ferris Wheel. The Doctor Surreptitiously pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at the controls for the Ferris Wheel. The Doctor surreptitiously pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at the controls for the Ferris Wheel. He winced slightly at the noise, wishing that what he was doing was less obvious to the person next to him. He winced slightly at the noise, wishing that what he was doing was less obvious to the person next to him. He winced slightly at the noise, wishing that what he was doing was less obvious to the person next to him.

"Well River..."

"Well Romana..."

"Well Rose..."

"It looks like we're going to be stuck here for a while."

"I like the sound of that Sweetie." replied a woman whose primary color was gold: skin of an almost golden hue, untamed golden curls, and a gold top that wouldn't look out of place in the 21st century or the 51st.

"Is this another one of those human customs you've picked up?" a woman with long brownish blond hair asked as she fiddled with the end of an overlong scarf.

"Are you coming onto me?" a young woman with bleached blond hair asked, looking as if she wouldn't mind at all if the person she was asking was.

The Doctor turned to his companion and smiled. The Doctor turned to his companion and smiled. The Doctor turned to his companion and smiled. Before he could reply however, there was an indignant yell from a familiar sounding harpy behind and above him. Before he could reply however, there was a yell from some harpy ahead and below him. Before he could reply however, there was a yell from some harpy almost directly across the wheel from him. The yell drowned out an almost plaintive cry of "Grandfather, why has the wheel stopped?", and a "How is this supposed to be "fun" Doctor?" in a Scottish brogue.

"Oi, get this thing moving!" a certain red-headed woman yelled down at the ride operator who was frantically trying to sort out what had gone wrong.

After another ten seconds of the Ferris wheel remaining stationary, there was a whistling chirring sound in two different tones coming from two different directions and an exclamation of "I didnae know ye could do that with a screwdriver!". An explanation as to how it was possible to screw with ride controls via sonic waves wasn't forthcoming however, as the wheel had started moving once more.

As the ground grew closer, the Doctor who'd realized what was going on since it had happened several times before pulled out his screwdriver determined to get at least a bit of time with his wife in before the running and the screaming started. Apparently, more than one of himself had the same idea as two different screwdrivers joined his in the task of making the ride's controls inoperable.

"Now, where were we?" Three doctors asked, two of them determinedly ignoring their surroundings since there were enough of them in the immediate area to deal with at least some of the problem, and probably more lurking about elsewhere.

The bleached blond woman in the jeans and hoodie just smiled as she leaned into the Doctor's side and he put his arm around her.

"I think we were here..." the woman with the wild gold curls replied to her husband's question as she grabbed the Doctor and pulled him in for a kiss.

"You were going to explain exactly what you were thinking when you tried to get me involved in this display of exhibitionism." the brownish blond haired woman said, gesturing towards the kissing couple ahead of and below her with a hand that was holding a sonic screwdriver.

"I wasn't going to go _that_ far!" The Doctor exclaimed as the kiss between a self he didn't recognize and a woman he didn't recognize grew more passionate.

As he watched the kissing couple ahead of and above him, a young Scotsman not-so-subtly shifted away from the small, dark-haired man he was riding with, jostling their seat.

"Grandfather, why are they mating in public?" a high childish voice asked loudly, cutting through several conversations and freezing the kissing couple in their tracks.

"Don't look Susan." an elderly white-haired gentleman in Edwardian dress said as he covered the eyes of the teenaged girl sitting next to him.

The formerly kissing couple turned to look at the old man and his young teenaged companion.

"We weren't mating!" the formerly kissing Doctor called back to the old man and his granddaughter before he turned back to his golden haired companion and quietly asked "Were we?". It was difficult to be sure how far someone who made their home in the Fifty-First century would go in public considering the number of taboos that had fallen by the wayside over the centuries. He'd only been planning on making out on the Ferris wheel. Anything else that might've happened could've happened on the Tardis if there hadn't been an impending disaster to deal with.

Rather than confirming or denying, River just laughed.

There was a grumble of "Well, that's ruined it." and a brief chirring of a sonic screwdriver before the wheel started moving again, stopping only long enough to let passengers off so that checks could be run on the ride in order to find and repair the problem.

"Doctor." a man with longish brown hair who was dressed like a professor in a woolen jacket with leather patches on the elbows and a smart bowtie said to a man in a pin-striped brown suit, brown coat, and grubby sneakers who had been sitting next to a red-haired woman who appeared to be in her thirties on the Ferris wheel.

"Doctor?" the messy brown-haired man in the suit, tie, coat, and sneakers asked before following him down the exit ramp. The man in the bowtie nodded in confirmation while the red haired woman who accompanied the man in the suit said "Isn't that that archaeologist lady what's her name?"

"Doctor." Both the messy brown haired man and the man with the bowtie said when a man with an exceedingly long scarf came down the ramp followed by a brownish blond haired woman who was making it clear that she wasn't with him though she clearly was.

"And, you are...?" the Doctor in the scarf asked, trying to get a bead on which regenerations they were since he didn't recognize either of them.

"The Doctor." both the messy brown haired man and the man in the bowtie said rather unhelpfully while pointing at each-other.

Then a man in a leather jacket turned up with a blonde on his arm.

"Doctor." both the messy haired man in the suit and the man with the bowtie said looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Doctor. Doctor? Doctor?" the man in the leather jacket said in greeting, looking decidedly unhappy.

"What is this, a medical conven...oh, shit." a young soldier who was currently attached to UNIT who'd been out on a date with his girl said as a small and somewhat disheveled man made his way down the ramp in the company of a kilted Scotsman.


	2. Chapter 2

The wild goose chase he'd been on for the last three days had long since become exasperating. This latest clue in his seemingly neverending game of chase with the Master was the last piece of the puzzle he needed to figure out where the Master was and what he was doing this time and what sort of weapons he might need in order to deal with the problem.

The Doctor sighed when he realized where the clues were leading him. Apparently, despite the fact that he'd tangled himself in the plots of dozens of aliens and assorted higher beings, The Master was bored. It was the only reason he could think for why the other Time Lord had decided to terrorize a carnival of all things. Suppressing the desire to bang his head against the nearest solid surface, he got to work.

"Let's go Brigadier." he said with a sigh as he hopped into Bessie and started her up. Jo was doing something or other, and the Brigadier had nothing better to do, so he would be his assistant this evening.

After a bit of the drive, they arrived at the traveling carnival that the Master had made the latest target of the aggression that was born of his insanity. As they were getting out of the car, a young man appeared in the parking lot and ran straight for the Brigadier.

"I think we might have a Code Brown sir." the young man said.

"What the devil are you playing at? There is no such thing as a Code Brown." the Brigadier replied.

"The Doctor is here." the young man said.

"I can see that." the Brigadier replied.

"So is the Doctor, and the Doctor, and the Doctor, and the Doctor, and the Doctor. And, I can't be sure, but I think I ran into the Doctor." the young man said.

"Speak sense man." the Brigadier said as there was an exclamation of "Oh, shit." behind him.

The Brigadier turned to stop and stare as he'd never ever heard the Doctor swear before.

"What? It accurately sums up the situation." the Doctor replied. "It took me, me and me to deal with Omega. I'd hate to see what sort of problem would take me, me, me, me, me, me, and me to deal with it."

The Brigadier paused, and paled as the implications set in.

"Code Brown indeed." he said as he followed after the Doctor who'd waded into the carnival with little hesitation.

As he reached the Doctor's side he heard a loud exclamation of "Master!"

"I should've known the Master would be involved in this!" the Doctor exclaimed as he rounded a corner.

The Master was indeed there, furiously scrubbing at his lips as if they were contaminated. A brown haired man in a brown jacket with leather patches on the sleeves and a bowtie grabbed the Master's arm and said "Come along Master, River's wanted to meet you for a long while.". Another man with messy brown hair who was in a suit, sneakers, and a long brown coat grabbed the Master's other arm and said "But, I was going to take him on the Waltzer before the disaster strikes!"

The two men who looked to be about to get into a fight over who would monopolize the Master's time and where they'd take him when they did so promptly stopped when the Doctor arrived on the scene.

"Don't look now, but Austin Powers has just arrived." the man in the suit, grubby sneakers, and the coat said.

"Quick! Hide him before River sees!" the man in the jacket and bowtie said, letting go of the Master.

"Before I see what sweetie?" a woman with wild golden curls who was wearing a gold top and a short and tight skirt to go with it asked.

"Oh, nothing, just an old acquaintance of mine, a former consultant for UNIT who..." the man in the jacket and bowtie started as the woman who was presumably River walked up to the Doctor and started thoroughly inspecting him.

"When we get back to the Tardis, we're going to be having a discussion about where you've been hiding this portion of your wardrobe." the golden haired woman with the untamed curls said once her inspection of the Doctor was complete, an inspection that had involved her getting into his personal space and inspecting a great deal more than the clothes much to the Doctor's discomfort.

"I dumped it in the back in between the boxes that contained my Cricket equipment and my scarf collection." the man with the bowtie and the man in the suit, coat and sneakers replied simultaneously.

"I can state with a great deal of certainty that my sartorial tastes have not improved over the years. The only thing I can think of that's worse than what you two are wearing is that ill-kept mess that my prior self called clothing." the Doctor said disapprovingly as he eyed the two men before him with an air of distaste.

"Speaking of sartorial missteps and messes, remember that neon coat that looked like it came from the wrong end of a rainbow?" the man in the long coat asked.

"How could I forget? The day I burned it was probably the best in my life, and it's over there by the way." the man in the bowtie said as he pointed towards the clown in the yellow trousers.

"There's more than one way to cook a cat." the man in the long brown coat said.

"Peri never let me live that one down." the man in the bowtie said.

Both men looked at each-other, back at the blond clown, and back at each other.

"So, do you want to...?" the man in the long coat asked.

"I never liked him anyway." the man in the bowtie replied.

"Alright, let's make his evening a living hell, seeing as ours soon will be." the man in the long coat said.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." the man in the bowtie said as he approached the clown while the other man snickered.

"What was that all about?" a rather disturbed looking Master who'd apparently not gotten while the getting was good asked.

"Those two who were apparently fighting over you were both apparently me. So is the man in the technicolor crime against taste, good sense, and sanity." the Doctor replied "I've also heard from a reliable source that several more of me are also here."

"Oh, sh...I think I'll just be scrapping my plan, taking my new henchmen, and...bye." the Master said before leaving with as much haste as was seemly, looking as if he would be flat out screaming and running for the hills if it was in his character.

As the Master disappeared into the night, a white haired old man watched two brown haired men pick on a blond who was giving as good as he got and hoped his suspicions weren't true. Unfortunately, he'd heard the name repeated on the night air, and amongst the crowds he'd passed through he'd seen his father's ears, his mother's nose, and his uncle's eyes. He was now looking at someone who had his Great-Grandfather's unfortunate dress sense, and one of the other men in the loose trio looked a great deal like that crazy cousin of his who had gone around licking everything while the other reminded him of that aunt who'd had a habit of kissing everyone.

Great, he wasn't just going to be replaced with a clown and a dandy, he was going to be replaced with all of his lunatic relatives as well.

Apparently, he hadn't run from the Untempered Schism before it had driven him insane as he'd thought he'd had.

Elsewhere, a man who had - if one went by his vest and umbrella - apparently raided The Riddler's winter wardrobe wandered unaware of who else was in the immediate vicinity, though he had the niggling suspicion that something was wrong.


End file.
